Is It Ceramics or Pottery?

Technically speaking, ceramics are things made from non-metal materials that are permanently changed when they’re heated. The classic example is clay: even a completely dry clay product will disintegrate in water, but once it’s heated to between 350°C and 1400°C, it can get as wet as you want with no problems. Glazes, which are actually a type of glass, are also ceramic; the firing process makes them stiffer than glass that’s poured or blown, allowing them to bind to the clay surface.

Pottery is a type of ceramic, specifically containers made out of clay. (So an art piece made out of clay would not be pottery — it would be ceramics.)

‘Pottery’ and ‘pot’, both derive from the Old English potian, "to push". When we consider how the potter pushes as they throw the clay on the wheel, it is easy to see how the process got its name.

story courtesy www.whatsthediff.org
image courtesy the guardian